


Six Impossible Things

by AnchoredTether



Category: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Related Fandoms, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Alice in Wonderland Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cat/Human Hybrids, Curses, Dark Fantasy, F/M, Gen, I'm diehard slow burn but Plance will probably be pretty quick to catch feelings, Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Lotura plays a big role in this and they will have many scenes, Magic, Pidge is Alice and looking for her missing brother and father, Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Protective Lance (Voltron), Quintessence (Voltron), Wonderland, also inspired by Pandora Hearts because I'm trash, as to be expected of me there will be, but all four of them are key pieces in the plot, dang I love that that is a tag, similar to the Tim Burton movie but also inspired from the books, though Plance is the focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25892698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnchoredTether/pseuds/AnchoredTether
Summary: “Do you by chance know a white rabbit?”“A white rabbit?”“Yes, it led me here. I do not know how I came to be here and I would like to find out.”"Well you came here by the way you came, of course.""No, I do not understand. This is a completely different... place than where I come from." Pidge wasn't sure if she was supposed to describe this strange world as a dimension, a plane, or a reality but she knew this place abided by completely different rules. "I don't belong here.""Are you certain of that?" The man pulled himself partially up to rest on his forearms, giving her a grin that could have been interpreted as malicious or mischievous, it was hard to discern. "Do you believe in fate?""Not particularly.""Well, fate does not care if you choose to believe in it or not. The red string will still bind those who are meant to meet each other. And I think you would most certainly agree we should have met, otherwise you would have lost your head.""As would you...""Fortuitous, isn't it?"
Relationships: Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 10
Kudos: 11
Collections: Fantastic Plance and Where to Find Them





	1. Rendezvous

“As great as trains are, I do wonder when private locomotives will become more commonplace.”

Pidge looked at her brother, raising a brow. “Private locomotives?”

“Oh what are they called? I heard about it somewhere…” Matt stroked his chin in thought.

“I believe you’re thinking of an automobile,” their father answered, his eyes still fixed on the newspaper on the table in front of him. 

“Yes, that is it!” 

“A steam engine is too big and cumbersome for such a small machine,” Pidge commented. “I think a more efficient device will need to be invented before the cities are filled with these automobiles.”

“Certainly,” Sam agreed. “The steam engine is better suited for trains. A different power source will need to be devised for an automobile to succeed.”

Pidge looked out the window to watch the scenery fly by. She loved to imagine herself out in the fields of grass riding a horse at these speeds whenever they traveled by train. But it was impossible to enjoy riding a horse at full speed when she was expected to be a proper lady and sit side-saddle. 

“I’m certain you could come up with something if you set your mind to it, Katie.”

Her father’s words broke her out of her daydream, her amber eyes wide with surprise. “You mean inventing?”

“I don’t see why not.” He lifted his eyes above his spectacles to look at her and offer an encouraging smile. “You have the ambition and brains for it.”

“But women cannot be scientists.”

“You never know. We are moving into more progressive thoughts as quickly as we are creating greater inventions. It is about time we had a woman lead us into more prosperous times.”

She smiled, returning her attention to the window as she daydreamed about something more grandeur than the freedom of riding a horse.

The memory that resurfaced in her dream left her feeling hollow that morning, her eyes glossy in yearning as she stared up at the ceiling. The ache of her lost father and brother felt like a hole freshly dug into her heart. She thought she would be used to it by now but the pain never faded.

Pidge loved to dream up the impossible. 

It was the only thing that helped her endure this insufferable reality. 

She dreamed of finding her father and brother and no longer having to console her mother as she held back her own tears for her sake. She dreamed of following in her father's footsteps to become a scientist in her own right. She even dreamed of meeting a handsome young man and falling romantically in love with someone who would cherish her for her intellect and not just her face. But those dreams were impossible, only fantasies to imagine as she ate breakfast. 

The truth was her father and brother were missing for nearly two years now - there was little hope they were still alive. Pidge would never be accepted as a scientist no matter how smart she was, simply because she was a woman. And the icing on the cake was the arranged marriage with a wealthy man she had never met. She and her mom were struggling financially since her father and brother had gone missing and it seemed the only salvation for a woman was through marriage. It made Pidge sick to her stomach.

Colleen was well liked and prestigious among the wealthy since the Holts were once a part of the higher society. It was easy for her to make the arrangements to find her daughter an advantageous marriage. A family owed the Holts a favor, they had a friend of a friend with a son around Pidge's age, and it wasn't long before Colleen came home one day with a letter in pretty penmanship from a James Griffin asking for her hand in marriage. 

"This is outrageous! I have never even  _ met _ him!" Pidge exclaimed, her face turning red from all her indignation. “You expect me to be happy with someone I have no familiarity?”

_ "Katie," _ her mom said softly yet sternly in that voice she used when she wanted her daughter to behave, "Arranged marriages are not the end of the world. Countless people find a suitable spouse that way." 

"Oh, but being miserable is acceptable?" 

"You will  _ not _ be miserable." 

Pidge huffed. She could already tell her mom was not going to allow any kind of arguments on the matter. It wasn’t fair but they were stuck in a situation where she couldn’t afford to be selfish. She hated it. She felt so powerless to change anything. She couldn’t find her lost family and she couldn’t even decide the course of her life. She would be stuck in a marriage that held no value beyond preventing her and her mother from becoming destitute.

“And what if I want to find love on my own?” she dared ask without looking at her mother.

Colleen’s voice was unexpectedly quiet. “I am sorry the circumstances turned out the way they have… but we will lose the house and everything by the end of the year unless you marry someone who can support us. The Griffins are a respectable family. I am certain you will learn to love Master James in time.”

_ “‘Certain,’” _ Pidge muttered under her breath. In her experience men didn’t like her being smarter than them, they didn’t appreciate her puns, and they considered her unruly. If James came from a “respectable” family, Pidge was  _ certain _ they would not get along. 

“The Ascots are holding a tea party tomorrow and we have been invited as well as the Griffins. This would be an opportune time to meet your future husband.”

The title caused her to cringe. She couldn’t even imagine being  _ married _ let alone arranged to be married to a man she didn’t know. Her mother left her bedchambers and Pidge was stuck in the overwhelming silence of her thoughts. She snatched the letter off her bed and angrily tore it up into little pieces, hoping it would help subside her anger. But as she stared at the mess of parchment and words, furious tears filled her eyes. She was not upset about the marriage as much as the connotation behind it. The reality set in her heart like the final nail in a coffin.

All hope of ever finding her father and brother was lost.

She would never see them again.

* * *

Pidge hated tea parties. She didn't even like tea all that much.

It was a hot afternoon in August and her parasol did little to console her from the heat of the sun. She was so envious of men, wearing thin trousers and button-up shirts with waistcoats while she had to wear layer upon layer upon thick heavy tight layer of uncomfortable dress. She was certain her cause of death would one day be her corset if it wasn't her insatiable curiosity.

"Why do we drink hot leaf water in the middle of summer anyway?" she muttered to herself bitterly as she tried opting for a pastry instead. If her mother caught her eating another dessert she would certainly receive chastisement and she knew it would make her corset tighter but the sugar was the only comfort in a situation dripping in anxiety. She had yet to meet James and she was already hating every moment of this social gathering. She wanted nothing more than to explore the garden by herself or go back home and read her books.

She had to drink a little bit of tea around Mrs. Ascot out of politeness, but Pidge quickly dumped the rest into a nearby rose bush as nonchalantly as possible when the lady looked away. If she could avoid drinking any more tea the rest of the day she would consider it a godsend.

She already knew which man was James Griffin. Her mother pointed him out to her as soon as possible and she brushed off her persistent mother with the promise she would approach him when the "timing was right," whatever that meant. It was her excuse to delay the inevitable as long as possible. He was fairly tall with pale skin and stylish brown hair. She would admit he was good looking, but appearances meant little to her in what she desired in a partner. She constantly struck up conversation with people she didn't care to chat with so long as it meant James kept his distance for a little longer.

Pidge wasn't ready to give him an answer.

She didn't want to give him one.

When he started to walk towards her she panicked, sneaking off and weaving through people until she lost him and found herself in the garden. She felt a brief respite as she avoided a full panic attack of confronting the marriage proposal and consequently also escaped the small talk. Conversing was exhausting and Pidge could only handle it for so long when it wasn't anything that held her interest. She could talk all day about how steam locomotives worked or why the sky was blue, but everyone either didn’t care or they believed it improper for a lady to be so knowledgeable. It infuriated Pidge to no end.

Sometimes she wondered if there was a way to escape to a whole new place where she could be herself.

As she was pondering about different countries she could live in that wouldn’t have such restrictive societal structures, a large white rabbit pounced out of the bushes to land right in front of her. “Oh!” she exclaimed, stopping abruptly in the gravel path. She stayed as still as possible so not to frighten the creature but the rabbit sat up, lifting its front paws so it could look up at her better, nose twitching curiously. She slowly crouched down to get closer to it, reaching out a gloved hand for it to sniff.

“You’re a cutie,” she greeted quietly. The rabbit’s white fur looked far too clean to be wild and it acted extremely calm in her presence so she wondered if it was someone’s pet. If that were the case, she ought to pick it up to try and find its owner before it got lost. She carefully reached out to try and scoop it into her arms but the rabbit took one hop out of her reach. It didn’t seem scared of her so she inched closer and tried again, but it hopped a little further. 

“Oh, you want to play games, huh?” She stood up and walked slowly as the rabbit continued to hop down the garden path. “Perhaps I should have brought some carrot cake with me.”

After a while of weaving around the bushes, the rabbit left the garden and started hopping faster, traveling across the grass towards the forest. Pidge grabbed handfuls of fabric and slightly lifted up her poofy dress so she could jog after the rabbit. 

“Don’t go into the forest you jollocks!” She knew the undergrowth would snag at her dress but at least she had an excuse for being away from the party for a time. She didn’t want the rabbit to be caught by a fox or stuck in a trap. “If you know what’s good for you, you will stop this instant!”

The rabbit only traveled deeper into the woods, so far in that Pidge could no longer hear the music or chatting from the tea party. She looked back over her shoulder to check if she could still see the garden hedge but it was out of her sight. Before she could return her attention in front of her, she tripped and fell, tumbling down a ravine as she cried out in surprise. 

When she stopped rolling, she pulled herself up into a sitting position to catch her breath and fix the mess of her long hair. Luckily she wore a ribbon as a headband so that kept it mostly in place, but there were a few twigs she had to pull out. She inwardly moaned at the kind of reprimanding her mother would give her on how tousled she had become. She was certain her dress had snags now and all kinds of dirt stains.

She whipped her head around for any sign of the rabbit but she couldn’t find its fluffy white tail anywhere in sight. She let out a despondent exhale. “It seems I’ve lost the rabbit, and I’ve managed to get myself lost as well. Great job, Pidge.” 

She stood up and brushed the dirt off and smoothed out her dress the best she could. Fortunately, she didn’t roll her ankle or hit anything too hard on the way down, though she was certain she would gain a few bruises come morning.

The forest was too quiet. 

Normally there would be birds singing or bugs chirping but it was awfully quiet and it sent a chill down Pidge’s spine despite the thick summer air. There was no way she could walk back up the ravine she rolled down - it was far too steep and she was wearing heels. The only way out would be moving forward and finding a way around the forest, so she started walking. 

It wasn’t long before she saw the white rabbit again.

_ “There _ you are!!” She didn’t care too much to help the rabbit anymore - she was angry with it. She ran after it without any care of not spooking it, determined to catch it. She weaved around trees and even leapt over bushes as she chased it, impressed by her own athletics. Just when she felt she was about to run out of breath, the rabbit scrambled down a hole and out of sight. Pidge kept running and fell down to her knees, reaching an arm down into the hole and gasping.

She thought she was going to be feeling a fluffy rabbit leg and pulling it out, but instead her arm submerged into something cool like a pool of water though she did not get wet. She quickly retreated her arm and stared down the tunnel. Though it was dark, she could make out some kind of reflective surface deeper within the hole, shimmering ominously beneath her.

An odd feeling churned within her stomach. The uncertainty of what was before her made her both scared and excited. This was something completely unexplainable. It didn’t appear to hurt her but something deep inside her told her this was something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Despite her wealth of knowledge, this was something truly inexplicable.

Inexplicable… just like the disappearance of her father and brother.

She had to find out and see.

She dived into the unknown.

Pidge was falling for far too long. Panic set into her heart that she was going to fall to her death at this rate. Everything was dark, her only sense that informed her she was falling was the rush of air against her and a pulling sensation as gravity yanked her through the abyss. Light slowly illuminated her surroundings and all she could do was look at everything with a confused expression. She wasn’t falling through a dirt hole like she was expecting. The walls were covered in  _ tiles _ of glittering golds and shiny blacks. Random objects fell alongside her, pieces of china and coins and playing cards and various odds and ends. A creature floated by, much like a giant caterpillar with pale fluffy blue fur and wide eyes like silver dollars. It trilled at her, the little markings on its face glowing a bright teal. 

Before she could wonder what the creature was, she saw the ground approaching. She screamed waiting for her fatal impact, but her fall was stymied and she gently tumbled to the ground as if she only descended from a hill on a sled instead of falling from a great height for far too long. The falling objects were gone and solid walls surrounded her as if there was never a hole for her to fall through. 

“Okay,” she breathed, pulling herself up to find she was now in a long corridor with the same tiled floor and walls, several doors lining the walls with big double doors at the end. Everything was elegant and rich, the handles gold and the doors carved with intricate designs. She tried a door with vine carvings and discovered it was locked. 

“How could a rabbit open a door?” she mused, realizing her rabbit friend was nowhere to be found. If the rabbit wasn’t here, then that meant someone opened one of the doors for it. 

Every door she tried was locked. She looked around the corridor for any sign of a key she could use for any of the marked doors, but the space was void of anything that could help her. Panic started to surge in her chest at the possibility that she was trapped here and would have to wait and hope someone would open one of the doors to let her out, but when she reached the double doors at the end of the hall, the handle twisted for her. She opened them to find herself outdoors again, surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees she had never seen of all different varieties of colors.

“This looks like Miss Taylor’s garden if it were in a fantasy novel,” she muttered, trying to avoid dwelling on the fact that everything made absolutely no sense. She fell downwards for a long time so she wasn’t expecting to see the sky. Everything seemed natural but at the same time impossible. It was causing her head to spin but she had to keep her wits about her. There was no sense in backtracking so all she could do was continue forward.

She didn’t get very far until she heard a scream and a snarl.

Her instincts told her to run because there was danger nearby, but the scream that sounded again kept her rooted to the spot. Someone was in need of help, and from the accompanying animalistic screeches that followed she could only assume they needed it desperately. 

She ran towards the sound, her heart beating a mile a second. What on earth was she doing? She had no weapons or means to defend herself, but she couldn’t simply ignore someone in danger either. She swallowed her fear the best she could and ran into the clearing to find several things that startled her.

The source of the snarling was a creature she could not describe, seemingly made of different animal parts. It had a snake-like head with a long neck and tail, but giant feline legs and paws. She didn’t have much time to study it as it hissed and slashed, held back by a bunch of vines that appeared to be moving on their own, restricting the creature. The person in question the monster was trying to reach was a man pinned down by some kind of net that crackled with electricity.

“Please, help me!” His golden eyes made contact with her and she noticed the vibrant yellow cat ears pinned flat against his head and the tail curled painfully around his legs. 

“What  _ are _ you?” she spat out, unable to control herself. 

_ “How rude! _ Will you help me or not?!”

It was the slap to her face that she needed, and she rushed over and knelt down beside him to inspect the net. “How do I release this contraption?”

“I don’t kno-NGH-” he started to say before it shocked him again, his ears and tail turning white for a moment. 

Pidge whipped her head over to the monster when she heard the vines snapping. It was only getting closer to devouring them. “Okay okay, do you have a-a knife on you or something?”

“I would have used it by now if I had!!” 

“Right.” She closely examined the mechanisms and understood how the net flipped over to pin him down in the first place. “Hold on,” she assured, repositioning herself to the hooks near his head. She pulled on one of the corners but quickly released it when it shocked her, letting out a pained cry. 

“You have to just rip it off! Trust me, you won’t be able to outrun that thing, only I can save you!” 

She breathed heavily, grasping the net again as she heard the beast behind her snap several vines. The electric shock ran through her arms again but she kept her grip around the metal and pulled through the pain with everything she had. Finally the clasp popped off and she fell onto her back, dazed and out of breath. The monster also broke free and Pidge saw it upside down when she pressed her head against the ground to look behind her, its large paws moving swiftly towards them. Strong arms scooped her up and before she could process anything there was a flash of light and she was suddenly somewhere completely different, her surroundings no longer ringing with bloodthirsty screeches and filled with the calm sound of a nearby running stream.

She began to catch her breath when the man set her down and then plopped onto his back. His feline ears and tail slowly turned from yellow to blue and all she could do was stare in complete fascination, distracted by one strange thing to the next. She noticed his eyes were also now blue - they suited his complexion much better than the yellow eyes he had when she met him.

"How did I end up here?" 

“I teleported us,” he answered simply.

“You… you  _ what?” _

“You know… place skipping.”

“I… I do not know this ‘place skipping’ you speak of.” She huffed, frustrated that nothing made sense. She was still trying to make sense of  _ him.  _ She scooted closer, curiosity piloting her brain as she grabbed the end of his tail and slightly tugged it, eliciting a startled hiccup-like sound from him. “So it’s real? How are you like this? How does it change colors?”

“Hey!” He moved his tail out of her grasp, his ears flattening in annoyance. She was half expecting him to growl like a cat but he only glared at her. “Too many questions! You are fortunate I don’t have claws otherwise I might have scratched you for your improper curiosity!”

“S-sorry. I have never seen anyone like you before is all.” She folded her arms in her lap. While a cat may very well enjoy its tail touched, there was no knowing if a person with a cat tail would appreciate the same sentiment. “You cannot blame me for so many questions when nothing here makes sense!” 

“Everything here makes perfect sense,” he countered. “It’s just a sense you have yet to understand.”

She frowned. “Possibly.” It seemed logical but at the same time it was madness. At this point she might as well follow her only lead. “Do you by chance know a white rabbit?”

“A white rabbit?”

“Yes, it led me here. I do not know how I came to be here and I would like to find out.”

"Well you came here by the way you came, of course." 

"No, I do not understand. This is a completely different...  _ place _ than where I come from." Pidge wasn't sure if she was supposed to describe this strange world as a dimension, a plane, or a reality but she knew this place abided by completely different rules. "I don't belong here." 

"Are you certain of that?" The man pulled himself partially up to rest on his forearms, giving her a grin that could have been interpreted as malicious or mischievous, it was hard to discern. "Do you believe in fate?" 

"Not particularly." 

"Well, fate does not care if you choose to believe in it or not. The red string will still bind those who are meant to meet each other. And I think you would most certainly agree we should have met, otherwise you would have lost your head." 

"As would you..." 

"Fortuitous, isn't it?"

She studied him a moment longer, still completely entranced by his strange appearance. She noticed the bright electric blue markings on his ears and end of his flicking tail were shaped like the spades in a deck of cards. His attire looked similar to something she could have seen back home but different enough that he still would have stood out - even without the cat parts. He wore a beautifully tailored dark blue tailcoat that complimented his tan skin and dark hair. “What is your name? Surely you have one.”

“An odd thing, names. Sometimes we lose them and then it is as if we no longer have any meaning. My name is Lance, which is funny because it’s also the name for a weapon. So what does that say about me?”

She frowned. “I wonder what you would think about my name if that is the case, seeing as I go by Pidge.”

“Oh! Like a pigeon?” 

She shrugged. “Sort of? It is more of a nickname.”

“Ah, well if we are introducing by means of nicknames I am also known around here as Cheshire,” Lance said with a snort. He stood up, offering a hand out to her to help her on her feet. “Seeing as you are lost, I can see what I can do to at least lead you in the direction you need to go?”

“Where am I exactly?” she asked as she took his hand.

He frowned for a moment, one of his ears twitching. “I think we’re near the Boro Groves at the moment. But before we were at the western gate.”

“No I mean… what is this  _ place  _ called? It is different than where I come from.”

“Oh! This is Wonderland,” he explained as if it were obvious. “I wonder which door you came through.”

“So you know of the doors? I… well, curious thing, I actually fell through a hole and then saw a bunch of doors but I could only go through one.”

“A hole, eh?” He pressed his lips together for a moment, both ears twitching.  _ “Strange.” _

“Strange?! You are part cat and can perform whatever ‘place skipping’ is and you have the audacity to call falling through a hole ‘strange’?”

He threw his head back and laughed, exposing his elongated incisors that resembled fangs. “I am one of the  _ least _ strangest things around these parts. If you think  _ I _ am strange, you are in for a sweet yet tart kind of tasting treat. Like a bitter lemon bar.”

She could already feel such treats from the garden party churning uncomfortably in her stomach. “So long as we do not encounter any horrible beasts or fall for awfully long distances, I believe I will manage.”

“Excellent,” he replied with a bright smile. “Because I think I know who it is you are looking for.”

Pidge let out a sigh she desperately needed to release. A million questions buzzed in her head like angry bees and the overwhelming uncertainty at everything made her dizzy. She had no idea how to feel about Lance or if she should trust him, but he did save her life and he seemed less threatening than the other creature she saw only moments ago. She had no choice but to follow him into this curious land full of wonders and hope she could survive and find her way back home.

She at least knew that wherever this Wonderland was, it was a long long way from home.

And Lance might have been the only one who was willing to help her navigate her way back.

“Indeed, how fortuitous,” she said with a smirk.


	2. Innocent Calm

"Alright, it's my turn to ask a question," Lance declared as they continued to walk through the forest. "What house are you from? Are you hiding a diamond under those bangs?"

"I- what?" she sputtered.

"You know, Spades, Hearts, Diamond, Clover?"

"You just listed playing card suits..."

"Exactly." This didn't seem to lessen her confusion any, so he tried an easier approach. "What town are you from?"

"Plaht, but as I said, I'm not from around here, I came from another-" She gestured in a frustrated manner like she couldn't think of the words. "From an entirely different world! Where the flowers aren't this colorful and there are no beasts like the one we just saw, and there are definitely no people with cat tails!"

He lowered his ears. "You say that like it's a bad thing," he said playfully, no hurt in his tone.

"I-it's not, but it's not  _ normal, _ you see, and I'm only trying to make  _ sense  _ of it."

"That's fair," he said with a nod. "You answered me where you were from so now you can ask me a question and I shall answer."

"So we are playing a twenty questions game?"

"Yes. Now my turn-"

"What! That sir, is not fair-"

"I answered your question though!" He gave her a smug smirk. She pouted a little and he thought it was endearing, but she eventually waved a gloved hand dismissively for him to continue. "Okay... so if you are not from Wonderland, how did you find your way here?"

"I followed a white rabbit. I thought perhaps it was a lost pet and I wanted to ensure it didn't get hurt. And while chasing it, it went down a rabbit hole and when I reached in it felt unnatural. Like reaching into water but there was nothing there."

"And then you went down the hole and found doors, and the only open one led you here."

She nodded. "Believe me, it makes no sense to me either." She pursed her lips together as she thought of another question. He could see it in her eyes that her mind was reeling with several and she was trying to choose one to ask. "The creature that was trying to attack you... are those kinds of creatures common here? And what was it?"

Lance held up two fingers. "That's two questions."

“Pish posh! Fine, answer the first one.”

“There are plenty of large creatures in Wonderland, but not all of them are hostile. That one happened to be one of the Red Queen’s robeasts.” 

He saw her amber eyes light up with curiosity. “Red Queen? Robeast?”

“Yes, there’s- hey wait, it is my turn to ask a question!” His ears and tail flashed orange for a moment before returning to their usual blue. “If Pidge is a nickname, what is your real name?”

“Katie,” she answered, her eyes still glazing over his ears and tail. “How do you change colors like that?”

“Oh did I just shimmer? Kind of difficult for me to tell.”

“Yes, you were orange for a moment.” 

He stopped in his tracks so he could face her properly, curling his tail around in front of him so she could better see. “I can change it willfully but most of the time it changes instinctively, based on how I’m feeling. What’s your favorite color, Pidge?”

She hesitated for the briefest of moments and he wondered if the question caught her off guard. “Purple.”

He changed colors so his fur was now a dark purple with lavender markings and watched her eyes sparkle in awe. “Though when I do it intentionally my eyes don’t change.” 

She looked up to see his eyes were still blue. “Fascinating… were you born like this? With these abilities?”

Lance flicked his ears nervously, his fur slowly changing back to its neutral color as he started leading the way once again. “No. I take it where you come from, there's no magic?”

He took only a few more steps before he stopped again, turning around to see that Pidge had now stopped in her tracks. If he didn’t have cat ears he might not have heard the small whisper of utter disbelief. 

_ “Magic?” _

“Yeah, you know, mana, arcanum... there’s all sorts of names for it.” He took a few steps closer to her and summoned his namesake in a flash of blue light, twirling it casually in his right hand. “Because you act as if you have never seen-  _ Pidge?!” _

He let go of the lance and took a lunge forward to grab her in time before she collapsed to the ground, now completely fainted in his arms. “Oh cheese… did you really pass out?” When there was no response he sighed and adjusted his grasp on her so he could properly carry her. Despite how big her dress was she was rather tiny and light. 

“Judging by your reaction, I take it there is no magic where you come from.” 

* * *

Luckily Lance knew exactly where they were and had many friends. Pidge seemed pretty out of it and he reckoned she wouldn't wake any time soon, the entire experience of Wonderland a bit of an overload for her mind. It wasn't much further to Rolo and Nyma's shop and he knew they would be happy to accommodate. 

Once he arrived he caught up with his friends and told them about Pidge while she laid in one of the back bedrooms, but eventually retired back there as well, exhausted from the afternoon. It was nearing sundown and Rolo and Nyma were about to close shop and return home. Nyma told Lance they could stay there as long as they needed. 

Lance was pretty drained from teleporting both himself and Pidge a long distance and having to carry her for quite a while. He stretched and then reverted to his cat form in a puff of magical smoke, leaping up onto the bed where Pidge rested and curled up against her legs. He hoped the rest would do her some good and that she wouldn't wake feeling stressed. 

Late that night, Pidge awoke in a panic.

She bolted upwards into a sitting position, her head whipping around as she tried to make sense of where she was. "Lance?!"

"I'm right here," he groaned, slightly upset at being woken because it was such a good sleep he was having. But the annoyance was brief. He caused the bright blue markings in his fur to faintly glow so she could see him and her surroundings. "Don't worry, we're somewhere safe. You passed out."

Pidge sputtered a bit. "Y-y-you're a  _ cat?!" _

"One of my perks," he answered simply. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Y-y-you're a  _ TALKING _ cat!!?"

His ears flattened and he let out a small huff. "That's a ‘no’ then."

She stared at him for a moment longer before she fell backwards and collapsed onto the bed. Lance thought she was only laying back down but then realized she had fainted again. He let out a long sigh.

He stood up, arched his back in a nice stretch, and then padded over to her face and gently pawed at her cheek until she woke up, her eyes fluttering in startlement.

"Let us try this again. Good morning Pidge - even though it's the dead of night - I am Lance and yes, I have a cat form. Yes I can talk, because it would be ridiculous if I could not talk. Not to mention  _ difficult." _ He cleared his throat as he sat back on his haunches. "Please don't be alarmed but I am going to summon you a glass of water because it appears you could sorely use it."

An intricate glass appeared upon the small table next to the bed, materializing in the same blue light as the lance he summoned earlier. Pidge sat up and stared at the glass of water and then back to him. 

_ "Is it safe to drink?" _ she whispered as if it were some kind of secret.

He growled, his tail lashing. "Of  _ course _ it is safe to drink!! It is not as if I am handing you a questionable vial that says 'drink me.' I even gave you a pretty glass," he pouted.

Her face scrunched in apology. "Oh… sorry, this is all… a lot to grasp still, apparently." She took the glass in her hands, her fingers feeling the engraved designs as she looked at him. "Thank you, you have shown me such kindness." She took a drink and must have realized how thirsty she was as she nearly finished the glass in one go. She made a sound of refreshment before finishing the rest. "And I do not know how I can go about returning the favor…"

He tilted his head slightly, whiskers twitching irritably. "Return the favor? You will do no such thing. It has been a pleasure to help a beautiful lady such as yourself."

She set the emptied glass on the table, her eyebrows raised in shock. "B-beautiful?” Her face flushed red and she nervously tucked strands of honey locks behind her ear-

“What the quiznack is wrong with your  _ ear?!” _ Lance stood up onto all fours and inched a little closer.

Pidge froze, her eyes widening in horror as she felt her ear with her gloved hands. “My ear? What  _ is _ wrong with it? It feels fine!?”

“I-i-it’s…  _ round,  _ and… honestly quite hideous.” 

She spluttered with her words, her face as red as the Queen of Hearts’ court. “Just because I do not have  _ cat ears-” _

“Oh no it’s not that, I admit I am an odd specimen.” He held up a paw to his chest. “No, most Wonderlandians have pointed ears, elegant and streamlined. You shall see what I mean when you see Rolo and Nyma in the morning. They are the folks who own this shop.”

Pidge let out a small hum, her face set into a thinking expression. She pulled off her gloves and set them on the table next to the glass. “How long have I been out?” She leaned forward to work on unlacing her boots.

“Quite a few hours - I believe it’s around midnight. If you would like, you can remove your dress and corset so you may have a more sound sleep. I shan't judge.”

She made a scoffing sound of protest. “Cat or not, I absolutely will  _ not _ be in my undergarments around a man! My mother would never let me hear the end of it.”

“Your mother is in a different world though, yes? The chances of her finding out are impossibly slim. It has got to be strenuous to try and breathe comfortably in such restricting garments. I could sleep elsewhere if that would make you more comfortable-” 

“No!” she cut in, appearing immediately embarrassed at such an outburst. “I would rather you stay here… I feel safer with you nearby.”

Lance closed his eyes happily, letting out a quick purr. “Then I shall remain by your side, milady.”

“Please,” She pulled off her boots and set them on the floor. “Just call me Pidge.”

“Pidge,” he said her name fondly, as if they were long time friends meeting again after years apart. “Now you ought to take off your corset. You can place your dress back on over your undergarments if that would make you more comfortable.”

She let out a sigh. “Fine.” She made a circular motion with her index finger for him to turn around.

“I’ll be back in a few,” he announced before leaping off the bed and wandering out into the store’s front to see if he could find anything to eat. Rolo had to have some snacks laying around here somewhere. The store sold general goods, mostly tools and trinkets and some jewelry but nothing edible. He followed his nose until he found a parcel of jerky hidden behind the counter. He could tell he turned pink for a moment when he discovered it but quickly went back to his usual blue.

He took his time getting back into the room to give Pidge as much privacy as possible. He checked out the front door and the windows to ensure everything was secure, and he couldn’t smell anything fishy outside so he felt confident they were safe for the night. He trotted into the back bedroom with the wrapped jerky in his mouth to find Pidge had indeed removed her corset and dress which were now folded neatly on another table, but she was now under the blankets so he couldn’t see any of her underlayers. 

He jumped up onto the bed and dropped the jerky so he could talk. “I found some jerky if you would like a midnight snack.”

She smiled at him but shook her head. “I am not particularly hungry, but thank you.”

Lance made a happy purr.  _ More for me then.  _ As he opened the wrapping with his paw, he asked her, “Why  _ did _ you go through the rabbit hole? You said it felt unnatural and yet you went through it regardless? You seem too clever to be so blindly curious.” 

His question caught her off guard and she almost appeared  _ sad. _ Her eyes narrowed painfully and looked away, her words soft. “My father and brother… they have been missing for a long time. No one knows where they could have gone. And I thought… I thought that maybe this strange inexplicable thing I had discovered had to be tied to their equally inexplicable disappearance.” 

They were both quiet for a moment as Lance finished chewing a piece of jerky. “I see… do you believe they might be in Wonderland?”

“It… it only makes sense. Now that I know other worlds exist and anyone can access them if they know where to go, they must be stuck here. They have to be.”

“I wonder…” His eyes narrowed in thought. He had a pretty good idea where her father and brother could be but it was going to be difficult to free them if he was right. He knew all parts of Wonderland - he would have remembered seeing two men with strange round ears like Pidge. But there was no telling who was being held captive in the Red Queen’s court…

“What are you thinking?”

He looked up at her, debating whether he should tell. She had been through a lot today and even passed out for a long time from the information overload. He decided it would be better to bring up the possibility of where her father and brother were another day. 

“Just thinking of who might know anything that could help us find them.” 

Her brows lowered questioningly. “...us?”

“But of course! You didn’t think I would leave you to find them on your own? Oh cheese, are you  _ crying!?” _

“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, “It’s just that… that’s so kind of you. Why would you help a complete stranger with ugly ears who cannot stop asking you annoying questions?”

Lance laughed softly, his tail swishing calmly from side to side. “You saved me, remember? It’s only fair to return the favor. Same goes for you, why would you help a complete stranger with weird ears and a tail who does not make any sense?”

“Fair point,” she said, letting out a tired sigh. “I could not leave you to die, and you saved me from the monster too. If anything, it is my turn to return the favor.”

He waved a paw at her. “That was a courtesy favor. Doesn’t count.” 

“It ought to!” 

“You won’t win this argument, Pidge. I swear to you, I will help you find your family. You can repay me after the fact.”

She gave him a soft smile, her eyes watering with gratitude. “I definitely shall.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo here's another AU I've had stewing around in my head ever since I got into VLD... and now I'm finally writing this as well. I'm such a sucker for Alice in Wonderland and I can't wait to get to further plot points and see what you all think about the characters in the roles I've designed for them. 
> 
> As always, comments warm my heart! <3


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